Fossil Friday Roundup: December 22, 2017

Featured Image: Happy Holidays from the PLOS Paleontology Community editors Andy, Jon, and Sarah!

Papers (All Open Access):

• Rooting phylogenetic trees under the coalescent model using site pattern probabilities (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Deepest and hottest hydrothermal activity in the Okinawa Trough: the Yokosuka site at Yaeyama Knoll (RSOS)
• Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities in endangered Pinus amamiana forests (PLOS ONE)
• Mandibulate convergence in an armoured Cambrian stem chelicerate (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• A new species of Xenoturbella from the western Pacific Ocean and the evolution of Xenoturbella (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• The first observations of Ischnochiton (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) movement behaviour, with comparison between habitats differing in complexity (PeerJ)
• From ground pools to treeholes: convergent evolution of habitat and phenotype in Aedes mosquitoes (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• A new mesoserphid wasp from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China (Hymenoptera, Proctotrupoidea) (European Journal of Taxonomy)
• A new species of the antiarch Microbrachius from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of Belarus (Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences)
• A new myriacanthid holocephalian from the Early Jurassic of Denmark (Link)
• Earliest known lepisosteoid extends the range of anatomically modern gars to the Late Jurassic (Scientific Reports)
• Triggerfish uses chromaticity and lightness for object segregation (RSOS)
• Simulations indicate that scores of lionfish (Pterois volitans) colonized the Atlantic Ocean (PeerJ)
• The biomechanical role of the chondrocranium and sutures in a lizard cranium (JRS Interface)
• Ecological and evolutionary significance of a lack of capacity for extended developmental arrest in crocodilian eggs (RSOS)
• Foramina in plesiosaur cervical centra indicate a specialized vascular system (Fossil Record)
• Underground dinosaur tracksite inside a karst of southern France: Early Jurassic tridactyl traces from the Dolomitic Formation of the Malaval Cave (Lozère) (International Journal of Speleology)
• A basal ursine bear (Protarctos abstrusus) from the Pliocene High Arctic reveals Eurasian affinities and a diet rich in fermentable sugars (Scientific Reports)
• Central European Woolly Mammoth Population Dynamics: Insights from Late Pleistocene Mitochondrial Genomes (Scientific Reports)
• Underrepresentation of women in the senior levels of Brazilian science (PeerJ)

Pre-Prints:

• High-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the upper Nacimiento Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA: implications for basin evolution and mammalian turnover (PaleorXiv)
• Revision of the Late Jurassic crocodyliform Alligatorellus, and evidence for allopatric speciation driving high diversity in western European atoposaurids (PaleorXiv)
• Fossil tree hollows from a Late Permian forest of the Matinde Formation (Tete, Mozambique) (PaleorXiv)
• How has our knowledge of dinosaur diversity through geologic time changed through research history? (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• Apply Now For The 2018 Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award, Deadline Jan. 18, 2018 (Paleontological Society)
• Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists Annual Meeting, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16–18, 2018, Abstract Deadline January 12, 2018 (Link)
• 2018 AIBS Congressional Visits Day In Washington, DC, April 17-18, 2018 (Paleontological Society)
• Trekking Across the GOBE: From the Cambrian through the Katian, IGCP 653 Annual Meeting, June 3-7, 2018, Athens, Ohio, USA (Link)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago (Link)
• Decorah crinoids revisited (Equatorial Minnesota)
• The Giant Ammonites of the Jurassic Seas (… and UCL) (UCL Blogs)
• Squalicorax: Beast of the Week (PBW)
• OMNH 1670, a fat shark, the past, and the future (SVPOW)
• The incredible journey of the first African tortoise that arrived in Europe (Link)
• A Flock of Flaplings (Laelaps)
• Top 10 Open Access Fossil Taxa of 2017: Zuul crurivastator (PLOS Paleo)
• Top 10 Open Access Fossil Taxa of 2017: Anatoliadelphys maasae (PLOS Paleo)
• Pisanosaurus and the Triassic ornithischian crisis (Letters from Gondwana)
• Make way for megamarsupials: the migration of Australia’s extinct megafauna (The Guardian)
• Paleo Profile: Shouten’s Marsupial Lion (Laelaps)
• Episode 24 – Sloths (Common Descent)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• PeerJ in 2017: A year in scientific review (PeerJ Blog)
• 8. Peer Review: Development of Open Peer Review (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• Prehistoric Mammal Discoveries of 2017 (Synapsida)
• Excavating Fluffy Pastries and Pulling Gold Dust from the Air: Best Paleoanthropology of 2017! (Paige Fossil History)
• Women in STEAM Panel Discussion (Time Scavengers)
• Jumbo Time (What’s in John’s Freezer?)
• Leaving ScienceOpen (Green Tea and Velociraptors)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Down to Earth With: Paleontologist Ali Nabavizadeh (Earth Magazine)
• Kristina Barclay, Paleoecologist (Time Scavengers)
• Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs has moved! (LITC)
• Amphibian and Reptile Biology and Conservation, the 2017 Joint Scientific Meeting (Tetrapod Zoology)

Art, books, culture, and fun:

• Systematics of Star Wars (Extinct)
• Paleoartists: Bringing Dinosaurs to Life (LITC)
• Zoology Books of 2017 (Tetrapod Zoology)

Do you have some news, a blog, or something just plain cool you want to share with the PLOS Paleo Community? Email it to us at paleocommunity@plos.org, tweet it to us at @PLOSPaleo, or message us on Facebook.